Free thinking from Grayling people

Why you shouldn’t worry about Google’s next algorithm change

It's a question I get asked a lot: "But what happens when Google changes its algorithm?"

I can understand the concern. Some in the SEO community can build up these changes like a second coming; but, if you're doing things right, you don't need to worry.

What do I mean by right? I mean using legitimate tactics in a natural way. It comes back to the four factors I outlined previously of:

Brand authority: The number of people searching specifically for your brand, what websites are talking about your brand, how they're doing that and what websites are linking to your website)

Content relevancy: Matching your content to suit the language of the user

Content engagement: How engaging both your specific content and your entire website is, ultimately, think about the user first

Easy to read website code: Ensuring search engine crawlers can read and understand the technical side of your website

An algorithm change may dial up or dial down the importance of a specific tactic within any of these - for example page load speeds may become a lot more important - but the fact is these four are the lifeblood of success in search and only work on harmony.

Google constantly reiterates that algorithm changes are about ensuring quality content finds its way to the top. The context to this is that there are still a lot of people out there who are trying to trick the system. Tactics such as keyword stuffing (repeating the word or phrase you want to rank for over and over again) or link farming (paying for links to your content from low quality sites) and even brand search manipulation (buying robots to search for your brand and increase your authority) are all redundant in the long-term. Google will always find out.

So next time you hear about an algorithm update, check your rankings (and watch out for the macro trends) but don't fret. Trust in your process and the results will follow.

Learn more about how you can influence search results with our proprietary technology, GCore.

Grayling Team

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